The mystery that also broke the Mossad and Shin Bet: the great safe heist - and the secret that still baffles the police
In an interview with Maariv, retired Superintendent Nissim Daudi returns to the great safe heist at Bank Discount in 2002, where 451 safes were broken into and loot worth about $25 million was stolen. The burglars drilled a precise hole in a half-meter-thick concrete wall, operating from an electrical room behind an air conditioning duct that was not dismantled. Despite assistance from the Shin Bet and Mossad, the mystery remains unsolved.
In a wide-ranging interview with Maariv, retired Superintendent Nissim Daudi, who headed the investigation team, revisits the largest safe heist in Israel's history: a break-in at the Bank Discount branch on Yehuda Halevi Street in Tel Aviv in 2002. 451 out of 452 safes were breached, and loot estimated at about $25 million was stolen. The burglars were never caught. Daudi describes how the burglars drilled a precise 50x50 cm hole in a concrete wall 50-55 cm thick, operating from a nearby electrical room behind an air conditioning duct that was not dismantled. The mystery of the heist also occupied the Shin Bet and Mossad, who could not explain how the break-in was carried out given the physical space constraints. The burglars operated for two to three months on weekends, cleaning and hiding their tracks. On one of the last weekends, a guard discovered that the door cylinder to the electrical room had been replaced, but the building manager postponed treatment until Sunday, by which time it was too late. Daudi, who retired from the police, says he still wants to sit with the burglars and get answers to the technical questions about how the heist was carried out.